Opinion
570384/04 x.
Decided July 21, 2005.
Landlord appeals from a final judgment of the Civil Court, New York County, entered on or about August 29, 2003 after a non-jury trial (Rolando T. Acosta, J.) in favor of tenant dismissing the petition in a holdover summary proceeding.
Final judgment entered on or about August 29, 2003 (Rolando T. Acosta, J.) affirmed, with $25 costs.
Before: PRESENT: HON. LUCINDO SUAREZ, P.J., HON. WILLIAM J. DAVIS, HON. MARTIN SCHOENFELD, Justices.
Giving due deference to the trial court's findings of fact and credibility, we find no cause to disturb the court's ultimate determination that tenant's conduct did not rise to the level of actionable nuisance, viz., "a pattern of continuity or recurrence of objectionable conduct" ( Domen Holding Co. v. Aranovich, 1 NY3d 117, 124, quoting Frank v. Park Summit Realty Corp., 175 AD2d 33, 34, mod. on other grounds 79 NY2d 789). The court's fact-laden determination to discredit landlord's most serious allegation — that tenant showed a "blank" gun to the building superintendent (Huggins) and made a veiled threat to use the gun against the building's maintenance supervisor (Avilas) — was not an unfair interpretation of the record evidence, which contains no indication that the incident was reported to the police or, for that matter, to building management. Nor do we find cause to disturb the trial court's finding that tenant did not commit a nuisance when he argued with landlord's employees on several occasions during the Summer of 2002. In the context of the mutually acrimonious relationship between the parties, tenant's conduct, while fairly described by the trial court as "obnoxious and unwarranted," was not shown to have substantially threatened the comfort and safety of others at the premises, so as to justify a forfeiture of his tenancy.